Hollywood's not America
by TwihardNerd
Summary: Bella is Hollywood's newest cover girl. But at the height of her fame she decides to leave it all and go back home. Edward however is still bitter over her departure, will he be able to forgive her and will things ever go back to how they used to be?
1. Road trip?

I pulled up at the supermarket and killed the engine. I yanked my hood up to keep my head relatively dry and made a mad dash inside. I searched aisle after aisle until I found the medicine, pulling a packet of pain killers off the shelf, I made my way to the counter.

There was a small line, I stood behind an old lady and her annoying little grandson who, for some reason, couldn't keep his mouth shut. He kept letting out short squeals every two seconds, each burst of sound sent stabs of pain straight through my temples.

She was served quickly and sent on her way. I threw the pain killers down on the counter, and grabbed some cough lollies off the shelf too. I paused only long enough to smile at the girl, pay her and grab my items. Then I was rushing, through the rain, to my car.

Once inside I searched for my bottle of water, downed a couple of pain killers and then popped a cough lolly into my mouth. I turned on the engine, and increased the volume on the radio a little, catching the end on an interview with Hollywood's latest covergirl, Isabella Swan.

'So what made you give it all up? Why now, at the height of your fame?' The reporter asked.

She laughed, 'Hollywood's not America, it's a place where you can make a million dollars, but you might just lose yourself along the way. I don't know, I mean I love my fans dearly for everything they've done for me. But it's just everything else that comes along with this lifestyle, and I guess I realised that maybe this isn't the life I wanted.' she trailed off.

'Could we ever expect a comeback?'

'Hmm...Who knows what the future holds? But for now, I'm going to say no.'

'OK. Well thanks for talking to us, all the best!'

I laughed, switching the stations. Of course Bella wouldn't like Hollywood, it just wasn't who she was....at least,it never used to be. Shaking my head, I sped off towards home.

I was surprised to see Emmett's jeep was already in the driveway when I pulled in; I could have sworn he said he had a date tonight.

He was sitting on the couch, pizza box on the table, remote in one hand, slice of pizza in the other. He was cheering on what ever team he wanted to win, in which ever sport it was.

'Hey, what happened to your date tonight?' I asked as I walked around him to get some food.

He looked up at me, confused, 'Date was last night...'

I shook my head, 'You didn't go out last night.'

'Yeah I did, ran into Jasper too...Didn't I Jazz?'

'Yep, he and Rose were at the movies too, when Alice and I went.' Jasper explained, emergine from the kitchen with three cans of coke.

He tossed one to Emmett, then handed one to me.

'Thanks.' I mumbled, then settled on the couch.

My head was still throbbing, but I was hoping some food would fix that. I cracked open the can and gulped a bit, it burnt my throat and churned my stomach, so I placed it onto the table and picked up my water instead.

I could feel Emmett and Jasper looked at me, probably worried. I'd been so forgetful lately, and they knew about the headaches.

'So how'd the dates so?' I asked, trying to get their attention onto something else.

Jasper smiled, 'Mine: good. Emmett got into trouble.'

Emmett pulled a face, 'I'm not a child, I can't get into trouble.'

'You can when you're whipped.' Jasper teased.

'Shut up!' Emmett retorted, trying to ignore our laughter, then something clicked in his brain and he turn to me smiling. I fell silent, 'Alice has another blind date for you.' he sang.

'Nope, no way! I'm done with blind dates, if I'm meant to find a girl I will, without Alice's help.'

'She's a nice girl Edward.' Emmett encouraged, thankfully Jasper could tell I wasn't in the mood, so atleast he kept quiet.

I swallowed the last bit of pizza, 'Don't care. I'm going to bed.'

I didn't bother changing, I pulled back the covers and hopped in, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to wish away the pain. I tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep, the throbbing too painful to push to the back of my mind.

I opened my eyes slowly, straining them to see the clock. It was 7:30, almost an hour since I went to lay down. Sighing, I dragged myself out of bed and searched the medicine cabinet for sleeping pills.

I couldn't find any, so I dragged my tired body into the shower. But the hot water did little to soothe me. I pulled on some trackies when I got out and grabbed my laptop off the kitchen table on the way back to my room.

There were no new emails in my inbox, I was just about to turn off the laptop but I was curious. I typed the name into the search engine, the first one was a fansite, so I clicked on it.

There she was, Isabella Swan, I hadn't really seen her since she left.

I noticed how much was wrong with her biography, so I clicked back. The mouse hesitated over the link to the photo's, finally I just clicked them.

The first photo I saw almost broke my heart. It was a recent one, she was on the red carpet, a breathtaking smile plastered on her face, but I could see past that, see the depression in her eyes, saw the subtle way she held herself that hinted to her sadness. I wonder if anyone else noticed. Sighing, I turned off the laptop. I tried not to feel sorry for her, after all that was the life she chose..._the life she chose over me._

Finally I succumbed to sleep, with Bella still on my mind.

* * *

Emmett was still asleep when I woke the next morning and Jasper was passed out on the couch.

The headache was still there, but it wasn't as bad. I found some oats in the pantry and put them on the stove, there were blueberries in the fridge so I threw them in the pot too.

Emmett came out of his room then and walked sleepily over to the kettle.

'Coffee?' he mumbled.

I shook my head, 'No, I'm good.'

I settled at the table and pulled a magazine off the pile, flicking through it as I ate. Once again Bella was the centerfold poster.

Emmett sighed behind me, he was looking over my shoulder.

'Heard she's quitting, com...going home.' Emmett said.

'Me too.' I muttered.

'Wonder if she'd recognise us.' Emmett murmured, the hurt in his voice was uncharacteristic for him.

'Wouldn't want her to, would you?' I asked.

'I...I don't know. She was like my little sister, I miss her but-'

'But she ditched us when she became rich and famous.' I cut him off, flipping the magazine closed and throwing it back onto the pile.

Jasper's phone went off in the other room. He entered the kitchen a few minutes later, phone pressed to his ear.

'Hey guys, want to go to Rose and Alice's tonight?' he asked.

Emmett nodded.

'Only if there's no blind dates.' I bargained.

'He said only if there's no blind dates.' Jasper laughed at Alice's reply, 'OK, see you tonight...Bye...Love you too.'

'So what's tonight?' Emmett asked when Kasper had hung up.

A movie night or something at her house.' Jasper shrugged.

I rubbed a hand against my aching temples, when I opened my eyes both Jasper and Emmett were eying me warily.

'Are you still getting headaches?' Emmett demanded.

I nodded, no point in denying it.

'You need to get it checked out Edward.' Emmett warned.

'No, it's nothing.' I argued.

'You don't know that.' Jasper stated.

'Come on, I'll take you to the 24 hour clinic?' Emmett suggested.

'It'll take all day and we've got Alice's thing tonight. She'll be upset if we miss it.' I said, grabbing at excuses.

'She'll be furious if she found out I didn't drag you down to the doctors if anything happens.' Jasper pointed out, Emmett shuddered.

'I'll go home this weekend, get dad to have a look at my brain.' I suggested, tapping my temple and ignoring the dull ache.

'On one condition.' Emmett bargained.

'What?' I asked.

'We leave tonight, and I drive.' Emmett said.

'I'm coming too.' Jasper added.

'That's more than one condition.' I sighed, but I knew it was the best, and safest, option. 'What about Alice?'

'I'll call her and explain everything.' Jasper planned.

'Go get packing.' Emmett demanded, pushing me towards my room.


	2. Home again

**Since for some reason, I forgot to put an A/N in my last chapter, I thought I'd put one in here...This fan fiction was inspired by and most of it was written to Hollywood's not America by Ferras www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=D8Ip3Uyw_Os

* * *

**

Alice and Rose decided that they needed a road trip too. At 3:30 we piled into Rosalie's convertible and were on the road.

'Let's play I spy.' Alice suggested.

Emmett burst out laughing, twisting around in his seat to look back at us, 'Don't get Edward to play, he'll confuse you...Last time we played I spy with him he's say something like "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with K", and it would end up being window.' he laughed again, and this time everyone joined in.

'OK Em, that was when I was 5,' I laughed, 'I think I've learnt how to spell by now.'

'Hey Edward...remember that time Emmett wanted wow-wow and tampons?' Alice said, effectively getting Emmett back.

'You can't have water and tim-tams together...yuk!' He made a face, but he flushed red and turned around to face the front.

Jasper went too fast over a speed hump and my head thumped against the head rest, it was just a tap, but searing pain shot through my head. I cried out and grabbed my head tightly. Alice's hands fluttered to my face.

'Edward? Edward, you OK?...Hey Jazz pull over for a minute?' Alice's voice was terrified.

He did, then I could hear them all murmuring to each other. Slowly the pain began to face, I only realized I was crying when Alice wiped away my tears.

'How much longer 'till we get there Jasper?' Rosalie inquired.

'Um, 5 hours.' He replied.

'Can't we just go to a hospital?' Alice begged.

I shook my head stubbornly.

'Fine.' Alice groaned, pulling my head to her shoulder, 'But at least get some sleep.'

Surprisingly I was really exhausted and the soft hum of the engine drove me into unconsciousness.

* * *

Alice shook me awake, 'Hey Edward, we're here.' She whispered.

I sat up slowly, disoriented for a moment, before I recognised the familiar dirt pathway that lead to my childhood house. Emmett pulled the car up just outside the door. I jumped out as soon as the car was parked, glad to finally be able to stretch my stiff muscles.

It wasn't raining, just yet, so we grabbed all our bags and walked to the front door. Esme must've heard the car pull up, or maybe they had called her while I was still asleep, because she opened the front door before we had a chance to knock. She immediately pulled me into a hug.

'Ohh Edward, how are you feeling? Why didn't you tell me? Why didn't you go to the hospital?' She demanded in a rush.

I laughed, 'Hi mum, it's nice to see you too.'

She kissed me on the cheek and stepped aside, 'Your father's shift starts at 10 so he'll just take you up with him. Leave your bags downstairs, dinners ready.'

I nodded and picked up my bags, dropping them just inside the house, then made my way to the kitchen. Carlisle was just placing the food onto the table...yum, roast lamb! It's been so long since Emmett and I had had a good home cooked meal.

Carlisle pulled me into a hug too, 'Hey son, how are you feeling?'

I shrugged, 'OK I guess...'

He smiled, but his eyes were still worried. My family, and Jasper and Rosalie, all piled into the kitchen then. Of course the food was delicious, and it felt so nice to all be together again.  
After dinner I took my bags upstairs and laid back on my bed, I still felt exhausted, even though I'd slept through the drive.

Carlisle and I got to the hospital at 9:30, he said he didn't care if he was early to work, he just wanted to get a head start on treating me...

Once we were in his office he began with the 20 questions.

'How long have the headaches persisted?' he asked.

I tried to think when they began, 'Umm on and off for about a month now.'

He nodded and typed that into the computer, '...and can you describe the pain?'

'It changes, sometimes it's a throbbing pain, other times it's more a searing pain...Usually in my temples, sometimes around my eyes, and other times more to the back of my head.'

Once he stopped typing he asked me, 'Do you ever have neck or shoulder pain?'

I nodded, 'Yeah, sometimes...not always with the headaches.'

He checked my blood pressure, did some more little tests, and asked some more questions.

'Hmm, I think it may be stress related, but I'm going to get you to do an MRI just in case...It's always better just to rule out anything too serious in cases like this.' He explained.

I sat in the waiting room for almost and hour before Dr. Morgan came out to call me. I remembered her from when I was a child.

'Hey Edward.' she greeted, 'Come this way.'

I smiled back, following her into a small room.

'Just remove any bits of metal...and we should be right to go.' She explained, even though I knew what to do, I was studying Medicine after all.

I sighed trying to repress the strange irritation that came over me, I removed my watch and a few bits of jewelery then lay back on MRI. It seemed like it took forever, but finally it was over. I met up with Carlisle again, who told me he wanted me to go home and get some rest, he would tell me the results tomorrow.

Emmett picked me up from the hospital, and apart from asking how it went, he didn't say much. After I said goodnight to Esme, I went upstairs to take a shower, and hopped into bed.

* * *

I woke two hours later, I'd been tossing and turning for ages, so I finally just decided to get up. I made my way downstairs, the kitchen light was still on. Esme was pouring herself a glass of milk, she had a plate of cookies set out on the bench.

'Can't sleep?' she asked.

I shook my head and sat down on a stool, as she pulled out another glass and filled that one up too, 'Nah, I've been having a bit of trouble sleeping lately.'

She looked worried, 'Headache?'

'No, just can't relax enough to get into a deep sleep.'

She stroked my hair, 'I wish there was something I could do to help.'

'These will do just fine for now.' I smiled up at her, and took a cookie.

'What did Carlisle say?'

'He thinks it's just stress, but he got me to do an MRI just to be sure...Hey mum don't worry about it.' I could see the worry etched in her features.

'Your my baby, I have to worry.'

I kissed her cheek, 'Not tonight...' I grabbed another cookie and handed it to her, 'Carlisle will have the results tomorrow, we'll just deal with it as it comes, OK?'

* * *

Carlisle breathed a deep sigh of relief as he looked at the papers, 'Nothing showed up in the MRI, it looks as though it's just stress.'

I let out a sigh of relief as well.

'Is there anything that you can identify that has been stressing you out?'

'Mostly just school I think.' I replied.

'Well we'll keep an eye on you, if you think that the head aches are getting worse, or that they are becoming more frequent, please come back...and don't you have holidays from school now?' Carlisle asked.

I nodded, 'Yeah but I still have homework and...'

Carlisle cut me off, 'Edward I want you to take at least week off from everything, all of you can stay here and just relax.'

I took up his offer, 'Yeah dad, sounds great...I've missed home.'


	3. Bella

**I own nothing. Hope you enjoy! **

I went to the beach the next morning, before the sun had risen fully. It was always a place I could go to when I was younger, just to take my mind off things and relax. Thankfully we were in the middle of summer, so when the sun finally did rise, it would be warm. I leaned back on some large rocks, using my jacket to sit on, and closed my eyes.

I tried to concentrate on the feeling of the rising sun on my skin, on the soft sounds of crashing waves. I tried to relax my aching muscles.

After a while I heard someone walking closer to me and I sighed, people were staring to take their morning walks. I thought they'd just keep walking, instead whoever it was came to sit next to me. I guessed it was Alice, so I didn't open my eyes.

'Edward?' she asked, excitement laced through her voice, 'is that you? Oh, Edward it's been so long.'

My eyes flew open and sitting next to me was none other than Bella-my heart sped up and my mind went blank. She smiled timidly at me and I realized I was glaring at her.

'I'm sorry. I know it was partly my fault that we didn't keep in contact.' Bella began.

'Partly?' I scoffed laughing, I'd done everything I could to keep in contact at the start, but when I realized it was in vain I gave up.

Her eyes got soft, sad. 'Edward...The last time we saw each other, well I wanted to say sorry...You were right. I should have listened to you.'

I longed to reach out and take her in my arms, tell her it would be OK, just like I used to do when we were kids. Instead I looked back out to the ocean.

'So how have you been?' she asked again.

I shrugged, 'Like you care.'

'I missed you, all of you.' she whispered after a small silence. 'I was hoping you still lived in Forks.'

'I don't.' I replied.

'Here to see Esme and Carlisle?' she tried.

I stood up then, 'Will you stop trying to pretend you care about me!' I realized I was shouting and lowered my voice, 'I've got enough on my plate without having to deal with the drama that seems to surround you.'

'Edward I...'

'Just go back to your little Hollywood friends. Wouldn't be the first time you chose them over us!' With that I stormed off.

When I got home Alice and Emmett were in the kitchen, Jasper and Rosalie were playing chess.

I went to Emmett and Alice.

'I'm leaving.' I announced.

They both looked up at me with stunned expressions.

'Why?' they asked in unison.

'Because I can't relax here, I just want to get home.' I could tell they weren't buying it. I groaned, 'I'm leaving tomorrow morning, whether you guys are coming with me or not.'

* * *

I went out the back after dinner, the whole family knew I wanted to go home tomorrow, and none of them believed my story. I needed some time to be alone, to really think about things. I sat down under one of our old trees, leaning against the trunk.

Of course in my family, you never got much peace. Alice followed me out after a few minutes and sat next to me.

'Why do you want to go home?' she asked, taking hold of my hand.

'I'd be more relaxed at home.' I muttered, she eyed me warily.

'You know you can tell me anything, don't you?' she asked.

I nodded and a silence fell over us. She played with the bracelet on her arm while she waited.

Finally I broke the silence. 'I found her Alice, ran into her on the beach.'

'Her as in...'

'As in Bella.'

Silence.

'Did you speak to her?' she asked eventually.

'Well I yelled, if that counts?'

'Edward...'

'No Alice, she left, she doesn't want to know us.'

'Do you ever think they maybe she couldn't keep in contact?' Alice asked.

'Couldn't or wouldn't? 'Cause for me it seems to be the latter.'

Alice shook her head, 'I don't know. We don't know her side of the story...Maybe she...'

'Alice I know you want to believe she's a good person, hell you want to believe everyone is. But sometimes people aren't good. Sometimes people fail you. And sometimes people just don't care about anyone but themselves.'

Alice fell silent again and I wondered if I'd gone too far.

'What did she say?' she finally asked softly.

'She came up to me and asked how I was getting on.'

'...and you said?' she prompted.

'I told her not to pretend like she cared, she tried to tell me she did, so I told her just to run back to her Hollywood friends and leave me alone.'

'You didn't...'

'Of course I did Alice.'

'Why?'

'I refuse to care about anyone who doesn't care about me.'

She gave my hand a squeeze and said, 'But she does care for you Edward, you're just too blind to see.'


	4. Marriage

The next day I went shopping with Esme, she was redecorating the library and apparently needed my opinions. After a couple of hours sorting through paints, carpets and some furniture we decided to get something to eat at a tiny little cafe that had just opened up.

After we had ordered hot drinks and some food, Esme and I sat around the fireplace. We were deep in conversation, and I was just starting to relax, when who should show up but Bella! I saw her walking through the front door. I suppressed a sigh and tried to focus all my attention on Esme. But of course Esme noticed my distraction. She looked at me curiously, before turning to glance towards the door. Bella caught her gaze and a beautiful smile lit up her face. Esme waved her over, she hesitated only a moment when she saw me, but decided to come over anyways.

'Bella? Oh my you've grown so much! It's been too long!' Esme gushed, standing up to hug Bella.

'Yeah, it's been too long.' she agreed, 'How are you?'

'Great.' Esme responded, 'Why don't you join us so we can all catch up?'

'Um...' Bella looked towards me, probably trying to come up with a good way of getting out of it without hurting Esme's feelings.

I was glaring at her again, Esme looked at me disapprovingly and I immediately wiped the scowl off my face.

'Please?' Esme asked.

It was almost impossible to turn Esme down, 'Sure.' Bella agreed, 'Just let me go get some coffee.'

When Bella had walked off, Esme turned on me, 'What was that look for?' I shrugged, 'Edward?'

'I don't know mum.' I answered, which only made her more mad.

'I thought I taught you better than that.'

I groaned, 'I just don't know why she wants to pretend now that we're best friends.'

'Edward, you and Bella used to be best friends when you were younger.'

'Yeah, we used to be.' I muttered.

Bella joined our table then, she smiled timidly at me, I tried my best not to scowl. Then her and Esme launched into conversation like nothing had ever changed. Throughout the dreadful conversation Bella kept glancing up at me, I kept my eyes focused on the cup in my hands until Esme forced me to talk. I said the bare minimum, just enough to keep Esme happy, but not enough to let Bella think we could ever be friends again.

Finally Bella's phone rang and she had to go home. Esme hugged her goodbye, then we made our way back to the car.

'She is such a nice girl.' Esme said, 'What ever happened to her?'

I shrugged, 'You'll have to ask her that one mum, I'm still trying to figure it out myself.'

* * *

'Asphyxiate.' I said, placing the tiles down on the board.

'Damn it Edward!' Emmett groaned, Esme shot him a disapproving look and he smiled innocently.

'Alright I'm out of tiles, I pass.' Alice announced.

'Yeah me too...' Jasper agreed. 'Time to tally it up?'

Rose nodded, and began to add up all our scores. Her head was bent over the page, deep in concentration. When she had finished she lifted her head, a soft hush fell over the room as we determined who had bet her this time. Her eyes fell on my face and I shrank back. I think sometimes Rose forgot we were just playing a game.

She broke eye contact when Emmett nudged her, 'Babe, c'mon. It's just a game.'

Laughing she got up, 'Yeah, and now it's my bedtime. Goodnight.'

Esme, Carlisle and Alice all left with Rose to go to bed. I'd slept most of the day so my clock was kind of messed up. Jasper, Emmett and I decided to play the X-Box.

I was nearly at the end of the level, beating Emmett by miles, when Jasper, who had been quiet up until this point, said, 'I think I'm going to ask Alice to marry me.'

'W-what?' Emmett spluttered.

I smiled slightly, ran through the gates, then turned to Jasper.

'That's great Jazz!' I said, really happy that he wanted to take things further with Alice.

Emmett glared at me, 'He wants to marry our _sister.' _

I laughed, nudging Emmett, 'His not that bad a choice...and you know Alice wants to get married some day. I'd rather it be Jasper than anyone else.'

Emmett scrunched up his face, 'You have my blessing...but don't think I wont be keeping my eye on you, punk!'

Jasper laughed, knowing Emmett was half joking, 'Thanks man...and I love Alice, I'm going to do everything I can to keep her safe and happy.'


End file.
